Letters: Universal healthcare is fiscally nonpartisan

By James Rinehart on 8/25/2018

In the early 1990s, I attended a meeting that discussed healthcare policy and the provision of healthcare in the United States. During the meeting former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, lamented that preventive medicine doesn’t pay and that healthcare expenditures are primarily focused on the disease state, when presented, rather preventing the disease state. The preventive medicine challenges of today resemble very much those of nearly 30 years ago when I attended the meeting.

Diabetes, heart disease, and cancer are not Democrat or Republican diseases. It is well accepted that healthcare expenditures and resources used increase as the severity and comorbidities of disease states increase. Significant legislative opposition exists towards establishing affordable and accessible universal healthcare coverage for individuals residing in the United States.

Two transitions must occur with healthcare in the United States to be fiscally responsible: First, provide affordable and accessible universal healthcare emphasizing prevention, early diagnosis and early treatment of disease for all residents and second, replace the current reality of us asking Why do pharmaceutical/medical supply manufacturers and care providers charge so much? The answer is because they can.

Universal healthcare is fiscally nonpartisan. It is a fiscally responsible element of society.